is this game the first ?

[carl]

HI all
I want to play this game and i have a few questions

1.is this connected to Higurashi chapters 1->6 ?
2. does this game has voice acting like Higurashi ch 1->6 ?
3. is this the first game i should play , or there is a prequel ?
4. how does it compare to Higurashi Visual novel series ?

Thanx

[*^SaoSin^*]

1. separate story with a lot of refferences in same universe.
2. patch includes VA and PS3 graphics up to you how will you patch it.
3. its first in umineko series includes chapters 1-4 for around 100 hours.
4. well you will get bigger picture on the World characters live in especially when it comes to witches

[Ellixer]

1. Aside from references, no.
2. The steam version does not include voice acting. There is a patch that add voice acting (and/or sprites from the ps3 version if you want).
3. If you are not interested in Higurashi, this is the first you should play. If you are interested in Higurashi and are going to play it anyway, you should probably play Higurashi first, though it won't matter that much. All you'll miss are a few references and moderately interesting ideas pertaining to the possible origin of some characters.
4. I prefer Umineko personally. Higurashi is tighter. The horror is more effective. It is a cleaner story overall. Umineko I think is more ambitious and subversive, but that also means it is more convoluted. The story and atmosphere is even more bleak if you can believe that. There are so, so much meta commentaries, genre deconstruction and genre reconstruction being thrown around. Also it is weird. Like, real weird. The two share superficial similarities, but you are better off not comparing them at all I feel.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Yeah, basically what they said. First Umineko game, not the first WTC game, a few references to Higurashi and being set in the same universe, but it's understandable without the knowledge

[SeanZodiac]

I'm up to date with the steam releases of Higurashi and I'm on the final chapter of the first Umineko. Some reference you'll understand if you've played most of the chapters from Higurashi. Higurashi is still missing a few chapters on steam. Can you compare the two? yes and no, the premise is similar but the motivation is completely different. I haven't even completed the series and I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy this series more than the Higurashi series. The story is more complex but still you'll be in engrossed by the story.